Boats and Bikes: Ride the waves or the road

"First it was the drought, now it”s the recession," says Randy Crow, owner of Chaparral Boats on Holiday Road in Buford. The store sees a lot of visitors every day, but boaters just can”t buy as much boat as they used to.

"It”s not what people want," says Crow, "but what they are able to afford."

Crow says that due to the credit crunch, once great credit scores no longer are, and many would-be boat owners must purchase a smaller boat than they wanted.

However, there are still some deals out there. "There are still some great buys on “08”s and “09”s," says Crow, who also pointed out that the boats aren”t worth as much as they were when they came out, even though they are still new and have full factory warranties. "It”s a different market now," he says.